Marinobuckle Adventures

From being met with silence when you sneeze to constantly explaining where you're from Americans living in London, this one's for you.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

We hope you had a wonderfully celebratory holiday - we missed being home with family, but we got to create our own tradition this year in London... and as Thanksgiving and Hanukah overlapped, it was doubly festive. 

Things are good here in jolly ol' London - we are settling in for the holidays and a cold winter, and we're enjoying the holiday spirit here which seems more festive and cozy rather than commercialized. 

Last weekend, we enjoyed going to the Christmas Market in Bath, which was a lovely experience! We walked around with mulled wine and hot apple cider, ate mince pies and Cornish pasties, listened to the carolers, and viewed the beautiful handcrafted items - ornaments, lotions, decorations, warm knitted things, etc.

Hubby's job continues to go quite well, and he's closed a few key deals lately! He will likely take a little "Christmas break" in the last weeks of December, as he has some extra vacation time that won't roll over into January. It will be nice for us to have some time together, just the two of us (the last time that will happen for a long while!)

I received a job offer last week from a clinic here that would allow me to see 1-2 clients a week with a good deal of flexibility. My license to practice in my field is finally on its way, and I'm looking forward to being able to keep my skills up to date. I'm also teaching my baby enrichment classes, which will wrap up in the next few weeks. 

I'm 32 weeks pregnant now, and starting to feel pretty cramped in the organs and belly. I'm still remaining active, trying to walk as much as possible, and continuing to do yoga, which I've found to be incredibly beneficial physically as well as mentally! This is the organization my yoga teacher is trained by: http://www.yogabirth.org/

Hubby and I are also taking a childbirth course through the NCT  (in addition to the Natal Hypnotherapy class we took last month and LOVED) which provide a more general overview of labor/birth/early days and logistical information about how the system works here. Since we've both been doing a fair amount of reading (yay, Hubby!) as well, and now we have peers going through the same experience at the same time, we are feeling very positive about the process. We have tools in place and strategies to make ourselves feel good, and a supportive system around us that recognizes that birth is a normal and natural process, as well as care providers on hand that are fully equipped!

Wishing you all a festive, cozy holiday season. We miss you all and we hope to see you all in the new year, with our new addition!